A wide body of literature on the subject of victims and victimization note that victims play a crucial role in the crime process and the criminal justice system. Initially, the traditional role of victims in the criminal justice system is to act as a witness of the prosecution. However, victims play a more instrumental role in solving a crime. O'Hara (2005) asserts that through the statements made by victims, they might confront an offender with the influence of the crime and thus contributing to rehabilitation. While exploring the factors surrounding victims during the crime process, this essay will focus on victim precipitation theory. This particular theory examines how the interaction of a victim with an offender can lead to a crime being committed. Just like other criminology theories, victim precipitation theory is associated with the concepts of how and why crime takes place (Lasky, 2019). This paper presents a detailed analysis of the importance of victims in the criminal justice system, an exploration of how the criminal justice system focuses on victims of crime, and conclusive comment on the future of the crime victims’ movement in America.
The concept of victims and victimization forms the basis of victimology study. In the study of criminology and victimology, in particular, one of the most common types of crime victims is domestic violence victims. According to a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in every 4 women experiences physical violence from their intimate partners while 1 in every 7 men experience the same kind of violence. Findings from Holder & Daly (2018) study also show that more than 10 million people experience intimate partner violence (IPV) annually. This is only one form of abuse that can be deduced from relationships thus insinuating that there are more forms of abuse such as stalking and sexual violence.
Often, domestic violence is not a one-time event but rather a recurrent event that worsens with time. As noted, victims play a crucial role in the crime process. Deducing from domestic violence cases, there are many instances when the victims victimize themselves by allowing the same form of abuse to be repeated over and over. Usually, the majority of the batterers are not violent when they are exposed to other forms of relationships. When batterers are confronted, most of them deny having an abusive relationship and often tend to blame their partner. Others claim that it’s their partners who provoke them to engage in violent behaviors (Holder & Daly 2018). It can thus be deduced that victims can play a role in their own victimization. According to victim precipitation theory, the victim is an active participant in the crime. In the case of domestic violence victims, they are active participants in the crime because most of them either encourage or provoke the offender to commit the crime. On the other hand, domestic violence victims can play an integral role by helping the criminal justice system to apprehend abusive partners. They can do this by informing the criminal justice system when their partners start being abusive (Lasky, 2019). During the trial process, they can be instrumental by providing incriminating testimonies that will help in apprehending domestic violence criminals.
Since the 1960s, the crime victims’ movement has been playing an integral role in advocating for the rights of victims. `Some of the main challenges faced by victims are intense fear, guilt and shame, belief that they will be blamed and dependence on the offender (O'Hara, 2005). However, with the rising awareness of the issue of victims and victimization, there are high chances that effective resolutions will be attained to help victims. Therefore, there are high chances that in the near future, the goals and objectives of crime victims’ movements will be attained.
References
Holder, R. L., & Daly, K. (2018). Sequencing justice: A longitudinal study of justice goals of domestic violence victims. The British Journal of Criminology, 58(4), 787-804.
Lasky, N. V. (2019). Victim precipitation theory. The encyclopedia of women and crime, 1-2.
O'Hara, E. A. (2005). Victim participation in the criminal process. JL & Pol'y, 13, 229.
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